02 - Environment Setup

This chapter gets your machine ready and creates your first project.

Required tools

ToolPurpose
Rust toolchain (rustup)Compile backend
Node.js + package managerFrontend tooling
System dependenciesNative webview/build tools
Tauri CLICreate and run apps

Install checklist

# Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Verify
rustc --version
cargo --version
node --version
npm --version

Install Tauri CLI (pick one):

cargo install tauri-cli
# or
npm install -D @tauri-apps/cli

Create your first app

npm create tauri-app@latest
cd my-tauri-app
npm install
npm run tauri dev

What to verify

  • Dev window opens correctly
  • Hot reload works for frontend files
  • Rust compile succeeds when changing backend code

Common setup issues

SymptomTypical fix
Webview dependency error on LinuxInstall distro-specific webkit/gtk packages
Rust target missingrustup target add <target>
CLI not foundUse local CLI via npm run tauri <cmd>